Live Review: The Teskey Brothers, Saskwatch

Watching the amusement and wonder in a child's eyes when they visit Melbourne Zoo is always amazing. But as beautiful as these animals are, it's hard not to feel sad that scientists report we are on track to lose two-thirds of wild animals by 2020. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature or IUCN's Red List now indicates that more than 24,000 species are at risk of extinction. Cheetah numbers have plummeted to just a few thousand. At least all proceeds from the Zoo Twilight series are being used to save the Eastern Barred Bandicoot. It is with the sobering thought of extinction on our minds and the loss of our natural assets that we head off to see the Indigenous opening ceremony and acknowledgement of Country. This is a nice touch given the 'invasion day' protests took place in the city earlier on this Australia Day public holiday.

Predictably, Melbourne's unpredictable weather lives up to its reputation with a wild thunderstorm that sees the heavens open up and bucket down on the crowd as Saskwatch take to the stage. A noticeable portion of the crowd leave and those that stay are cheerfully donning environmentally insensitive single-use-only (because most end up in bins at the end of the night) plastic ponchos. Fingers crossed these are biodegradable. Wrapped in plastic, the crowd discover dancing in the rain on a hot steamy evening isn't such a bad way of cooling down. Saskwatch persist and, despite getting a little soggy, drop a fine set. In a shocking move, last year Saskwatch's album Manual Override dropped their signature soul and funk sound to deliver their take on indie pop. It washes over a little like The Go Team or even The Avalanches without the layers of samples. Even with their change in direction, Nkechi Anele's vocals are still powerhouse. She leads the group, who push out a bright, happy vibe to warm the crowd up for The Teskey Brothers.

After a while, all this rain starts to just get plain annoying. There are plenty of ankle-biters about who gleefully splash in puddles and mud much to their parents' displeasure. Relative newcomers The Teskey Brothers, featuring brothers Josh and Sam, start with the soulful Crying Shame, which ironically rhymes with rain. Astonishingly, Josh Teskey sounds like he's channelling Otis Redding and the band sound like they have listened to a lot of vintage recordings to learn how to squeeze out an intensely deep, country sound that drips with soul. Covers of Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel and John Lennon's Jealous Guy feel a little out of place, but their familiarity has the crowd smiling. As the show progresses, Josh starts to sound a little like Joe Cocker and the band rip a hole in the fabric of space and time to take us back to the '60s and '70s. Dealing vintage soul realness, a cover of Redding's Hard To Handle simply nails it.

A soaking wet-but-fine start to the Zoo Twilights season for 2018.